Take a letter

Although I don't lack for topics to blog on at the moment, I have been lacking the time to do them justice. In order to keep things going this week, I went over to Christie Fermicat's and picked up a letter for The Great Letter Meme. The idea is to list ten favorite things beginning with that letter. Christie gave me the letter "S" - don't know why, must stand for "smartass"...

1. Sunrises. A beautiful sunrise is always a great moment. It's the start of another day, the start of a new set of possibilities. Back in the day, the goal of a night of hardcore partying was to stay up to see the sunrise. I'm still doing that today, but now it's because my work schedule demands it.

2. Spring. A time of renewal. After the winter, everything starts blooming again. The first warm day of spring, when you can roll the car windows down, or walk around in your shorts and watch Nature come out of hibernation, is a special moment. The cold days are over, it's time for everything to start growing again.

3. The sky. Sometimes it's clear blue. Sometimes there's those thin wispy clouds. Other times it's dark and foreboding as a storm's coming on. It never looks the same twice, and there's always a hint of wonder at what lies beyond.

4. Soap bubbles. It may sound crazy to us "mature" folks, but there are few things more relaxing to me than going out on the porch and blowing some bubbles off into the breeze. Just watching them float takes me back to my childhood and memories of simpler times, before mortgages, car payments, insurance and all the other grown-up stuff. I would love to be able to float on the wind like that.

5. Springsteen. BRUUUUUCE! The Boss. Back in the 70's he was called "the future of rock 'n' roll", and for those of us who just missed seeing the great 60's acts in their prime, Springsteen was the ultimate live performer. He's also one of rock's greatest songwriters and a heckuva guitarist, too, something he seldom gets credit for.

6. Seger. The quintessential heartland rocker. A lot of folks on the coasts may still consider Bob Seger to have been a second-rate Springsteen clone, but if you grew up in the Midwest during Seger's rise to fame, and especially if you caught one of his phenomenal mid-to-late 70's concerts, you know that Seger belongs with the all-time greats. One of the best voices in the history of rock 'n' roll.

7. The Stones. They really were The World's Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Band once. Seriously. These days the Rolling Stones are geriatric wonders, somehow managing to put on amazing live shows for a new generation of fans when they could have put their feet up and lived off their royalties decades ago.

8. Sports. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, tennis, extreme sports - once I figure out what's going on, I can get into them all. I figure that it's far better for humanity to work off its competitive urges on an athletic field or in a sports arena than on a battlefield.

9. The St. Louis Cardinals. Ten World Series championships. The Gashouse Gang. Musial. Brock. Gibson. Ozzie. Pujols. A franchise steeped in baseball tradition. Growing up where I did, you learned to love your Cardinals alongside your Budweiser.

10. Sex. Need I say more? Although there's something to be said for down-and-dirty, horny, casual screwing, the best sex by far is when you can share heart, mind, body and soul with that special person you know that you were meant for.

Want your own letter to play with? Leave a request in comments and I'll write one for you on my prescription pad.